MOTORSPORTS EMBRACES THE OXYGEN SENSOR
Motorsports, as it has for more than a century, often spearheads new uses and advances in existing products - and motorsports has now embraced the oxygen sensor.  Bosch, which invented the automotive oxygen (O2) sensor three decades ago, has extensive involvement in the many aspects of the domestic motorsports scene, and Bosch's expertise with O2 sensors is translating into greater performance in all forms of motorsports.

Many of these activities ultimately play an important role in developing and improving everyday automotive products themselves.

"Oxygen sensors are playing an increasing role in advancing the sophistication of engine management systems.  For instance, the two-car C5R Corvette team has dominated the ALMS GTS class for the past several years, in its worldwide roadracing program ranging from Sebring to Le Mans.  Running a race-tailored version of the highly sophisticated Bosch Motronic engine management system, they rely heavily on Bosch wide-band O2 sensors to feed the Motronic system with a constant stream of vital air/fuel information - at any speed and any place on the race track," said Wolfgang Hustedt, Motorsports manager for the Robert Bosch Corporation.  "This team won its third consecutive championship in this highly competitive series in 2003, and they have enjoyed a commanding performance advantage in every race," he noted.

The Motronic Engine Management System in these Corvettes is a combination of electronic ignition and fuel injection, and includes:

"The Motronic system controls both ignition and fuel injection functions.  These functions are measured at 12-degree crankshaft angle increments, which in a V-8 engine at 10,000 RPM results in 40,000 calculations per minute.  The highly sophisticated Bosch wide-band O2 sensors they utilize, with their constant input of variable air/fuel data every 100 milliseconds, are keys to the success of the Motronic system and racing programs such as this."

"This system processes and manages a lot of information.  Motronic allows the race team to optimize every function of the engine package for peak performance on a variety of tracks and in ever-changing track and weather conditions - relying on wide-band O2 sensors for constant, dependable data acquisition," Hustedt pointed out.

CARBURETORS ON THE BANKED OVALS
Many NASCAR teams, which of course run carburetors and not fuel injection on the banked ovals, keep O2 sensors hard at work, primarily in testing.  Oxygen sensors are used on the dynamometer to calculate the best air to fuel ratio (usually from 0.80 to 0.85 lambda to achieve maximum torque, and normally adjust the mixture to 0.82,) Hustedt noted.

And the O2 sensors play an especially important role on the high banked tracks, where the G forces are so high at speed that the fuel drops to near-zero on the left side of the carburetor and almost floods the right side.  The sensors help develop fuel curves for each track, and help the race teams adjust jets in each of the four carburetor barrels, and possibly adjust the manifold runners to compensate.

Chip Ganassi's NASCAR team, for instance, uses eight Bosch wide-band sensors, mounted in the exhaust stream, four on each side close to the V-8 engine, to achieve the best fuel/air mixtures for each track they run.

 "Each combination of carburetor and manifold and camshaft offers a different dynamic we have to deal with, depending on the track and the anticipated weather and temperature," said Les Meares, racing engineer for the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates NASCAR team.

"We take the readings with Bosch Motorsports' Electronic Sensor Interface Box.  The ESIB is designed to measure and Data Log the signals from multiple sensors.  This allows us to factor in measurements from eight sensors, and records the vehicle's speed, engine RPM, throttle position, and lateral acceleration.  This device, in conjunction with the oxygen sensors, is very helpful in extracting the maximum from the engines at every track."

"The team was playing with this system in 2002, but early this past season we redeveloped our interest.  It has become an integral part of preparation for every race,"  Meares noted.  Wolfgang Hustedt noted that "In this scenario, as is often the case, we are reversing the philosophy of racing influencing everyday driving -- what we're doing here is taking a product developed for street use and finding very important uses in racing."

DRAG RACING GOES HIGH-TECH
Bullish Motor Racing, which won the 2003 NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series Championship and the 2003 NDRA Pro Compact Xbox Cup championship, pulls more than 1600 horsepower from identically prepared turbocharged 3.0 Toyota six cylinder engines.  One of this team's "secrets" lies in their engine tuning techniques - using Bosch wide-band oxygen sensors to tell them exactly what they need to know to extract the ultimate power from these engines.

For the 2003 season, the team won 13 of 19 NHRA/NDRA Sport Compact events as well as the championships in both series and the runners-up in both series, a feat never accomplished before.  Bullish also runs Bosch platinum spark plugs and Bosch fuel injectors.  The spark plugs, like the wide-band oxygen sensors, are stock street units utilizing platinum center electrodes and welded-on ground electrodes with platinum tips.  The fuel injectors are also stock off-the-shelf Bosch units.

"Bullish Motor Racing tunes our engines for maximum performance at the very edge of reliability, and the wide-band oxygen sensors are critical to the proper air/fuel mixture.  The sensors are plugged in before every run to download data log readings right to our laptop computers after each run.  Then we analyze the printout to see if we can improve performance by changing any settings," said Ara Arslanian, president of Bullish Motor Racing and one of the team's champion drivers.

"I also use the Bosch oxygen sensors to monitor performance and efficiency in my street Toyota engines.  This makes a real difference in how the car performs in everyday driving," he added.

Bosch's involvement in various aspects of motorsports continues a long-standing tradition.

"What Bosch learns as a result of testing and development of oxygen sensors, spark plugs, fuel injectors, engine control systems, and other components in racing competition, enables Bosch engineers to provide optimum performance and reliability to the motoring public.  Sometimes, of course, the reverse is true.  The extensive development going into vehicles for everyday driving often leads to new racing technology -- the benefits go both ways," Hustedt said.